The invention relates to a rack for holding at least one medical device according to the preamble of claim 1, to a system comprising multiple racks and to a method for arranging at least one medical device on a rack.
A rack of this kind comprises a multiplicity of interfaces for connecting at least one medical device to the rack.
Racks of this kind serve to fixedly hold and organize medical devices such as infusion pumps to administer fluids, for example medication or nutrients, to a patient in a hospital environment. Such racks in general comprise multiple mechanical interfaces to hold multiple medical devices such that the medical devices via the rack can be organized in a space-efficient manner, for example by forming a vertical stack of medical devices. The rack herein serves as a communication spine providing a communication among the medical devices attached to the rack and between the medical devices and external periphery devices such as a nurse call, a printer, a computer, a barcode reader or an external communication network. Further, the rack serves to supply the medical devices attached to the rack with power.
For example, in a commercially available rack system four medical devices such as medical infusion pumps can be connected to a rack, wherein altogether three racks can be interconnected with each other, hence forming a system of racks capable of carrying at most 3×4=12 medical devices. The racks are interconnected such that the medical devices attached to the racks can communicate with each other and with external periphery devices via communication lines, for example via a communication network such as a local area network (LAN) or the internet.
If the medical devices connected to a system of racks are connected via the racks to a network, typically unique identifiers for logically identifying the medical devices in the network are associated with the medical devices. Such identifiers serve as network addresses and may for example be constituted by the so-called MAC addresses. However, such logical identifiers cannot serve to localize the medical devices on the racks, because from the logical identifiers no conclusions can be drawn with regard to the topological, physical arrangement of the medical devices on the racks.
In common hospital environments, one rack or multiple racks interconnected with each other may be placed at a bedside of a patient and may carry multiple medical devices such as infusion pumps attached to the racks. To control the operation of the medical devices, a control device including a display is used which displays information concerning the medical devices and allows for a controlling of operational parameters, such as the infusion dose or the infusion rate of an infusion pump, by a nurse or another user.
With regard to such control devices and control tools running on such control devices, there is a desire to display the medical devices to be controlled on the display of the control device in the same topological arrangement and order as they are arranged physically on the rack. For this, however, it is necessary to identify the topological position of medical devices on the racks such that their relative position becomes known and can accordingly be displayed on the control device. If a nurse sees the medical devices to be controlled in the same order and arrangement on the control device as the medical devices are physically arranged at the bedside of the patient, the controlling of the devices for the nurse becomes easier, because an association between the displayed devices and the physical devices at the bedside of the patient can intuitively be made. This reduces the risk of control errors.
Further, a control device, by referring to the specific position of a particular medical device on a system of racks, can provide more specific, easier-to-follow instructions for a nurse or can provide more direct instructions or alerts with regard to an alarm condition or an unexpected operational behaviour of a particular medical device. For example, the control device can directly hint at the “second pump from the bottom” or the “third pump from the top” such that the nurse directly and unambiguously gets to know which medical device it is referred to.
There hence is a desire for a rack allowing for topologically identifying the position of a medical device on a rack.
EP 0 960 627 A2 discloses an attachment and carrier unit in the shape of a rack for carrying multiple medical devices in the shape of infusion pumps. Herein, the infusion pumps each are connected to a control device by a separate connection line in a star-shaped wiring, such that the control device can, by interrogating the separate infusion pumps via the separate connection lines, detect the topological position of the infusion pumps on the carrying unit.
Within a system known from WO 98/56451 A1 multiple medical devices such as infusion pumps are connected with each other to form a linear array of modules. WO 98/56451 A1 does not refer to a system including a rack for carrying and mechanically holding multiple medical devices.